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Summary
Summary
Galileo, Einstein, Curie, Darwin, Hawking--we know the names, but how much do we really know about these people?
Galileo gained notoriety over his battle with the Vatican, but did you know that this "father of modern science" was also an accomplished lute player? And Darwin of course discovered the principle by which new species are formed, but his bold curiosity extended to the dinner table as well. (And how many people can say they've eaten an owl!)
In Eureka! John Grant - author of Debunk It! , Discarded Science , Spooky Science and many others - offers fifty vivid portraits of groundbreaking scientists. From lutes and owls to astronomy and evolution, Eureka! explains how these scientific geniuses have shaped our understanding - and how they spent their free time as well.
Author Notes
John Grant is author of about seventy books, including the highly successful Discarded Science, Corrupted Science , and Denying Science . For a number of years he ran the world-famous fantasy artbook publisher Paper Tiger. He has won the Hugo Award (twice), the World Fantasy Award, and various other international literary awards.
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 7 Up-A collected biography of 50 influential scientists, organized chronologically by year of birth, from Pythagoras of Samos to James Hanson. About four to six pages are dedicated to each figure's body of work and influence. A "But There's More" section lists trivia-style facts and suggestions for further research after each subject. A running theme of the work is the importance of collaboration and reworking old ideas. Grant highlights how scientists are often in dialogue with one another-this conversation is essential to scientific advancement. In his introduction, Grant acknowledges the lack of diversity (in regard to gender) in most representations of scientists and admits that his selection process reflects his personal judgment. There are a fair amount of women scientists covered. However, the focus is squarely on Western achievement (scientists from Asia, Africa, or South America are largely omitted). Attention is brought to those who were dismissed because of prejudice, for example, Lise Meitner, Ignaz Semmelweis, and Émilie du Châtelet. The writing is very approachable, although at times a bit too colloquial (Semmelweis's coworkers are referred to as a "stupid bunch"). VERDICT More for pleasure reading than reports. Put this in the hands of students with an interest in STEM and history.-Sharon M. Lawler, formerly at Randolph Elementary, TX © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Scientists whose contributions have shaped modern life are introduced in 50 brief biographies. They include individuals from the ancient world, including Hippocrates, Pythagoras, and Hypatia of Alexandria; well-known figures like Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, and Marie Curie; and other individuals who might have escaped readers' notice, such as mathematician Ada Lovelace, German physicist Lisa Meitner, and Australia's Howard Florey, a somewhat unheralded bacteriologist who played a key role in the advent of penicillin. Grant (Debunk It!) humorously describes the scientists' missteps (Ptolemy's "ideas of how the universe worked dominated scientific thought... for something like 1,300 years. Which was a pity, because he got just about everything wrong"), just one aspect of the informal, accessible tone he uses to create a rich and lively history of scientific innovation. Ages 12-up. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
This is a comprehensive collective biography of the most formative people in human intellectual history, each selected because without their personal contributions the modern world would not exist as readers know it. Galileo, Newton, Einstein, and Bacon are all obvious inclusions, but more obscure thinkers who were dismissed in their own time are also lauded for their insight into modern science and mathematics. Women subjects are, unsurprisingly, greatly outnumbered by men, but Grant confronts that reality head-on in his introduction, explaining the social biases that color how scientists work and how their work is received by their respective cultures. Each biography is arranged chronologically and includes the most important aspects of the subject's life and intellectual achievements, along with fascinating trivia and personal idiosyncrasies. Tycho Brahe's metal prosthetic nose, Hypatia's death at the hands of an anti-intellectual lynch mob, and Antoine Lavoisier's scandalous marriage bring a relatability to these highly intelligent people that will keep readers engaged.--Anderson, Erin Copyright 2016 Booklist
Table of Contents
| Introduction | p. 7 |
| Pythagoras of Samos (ca. 570-ca. 495 BCE?) | p. 9 |
| Hippocrates (ca. 460-ca. 370 BCE) | p. 13 |
| Euclid of Alexandria (ca. 325-ca. 270 BCE) | p. 17 |
| Archimedes of Syracuse (ca. 287-212 BCE) | p. 20 |
| Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus) (ca. 90-ca. 168) | p. 24 |
| Hypatia of Alexandria (ca. 355-415) | p. 28 |
| Alhazen (Abu Ali al-Hasan ibn al-Haytham) (ca. 965-ca. 1040) | p. 32 |
| Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) | p. 35 |
| Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) | p. 39 |
| Francis Bacon (1561-1626) | p. 43 |
| Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) | p. 47 |
| Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) | p. 53 |
| William Harvey (1578-1657) | p. 60 |
| Isaac Newton (1642-1727) | p. 63 |
| Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716) | p. 73 |
| Émilie du Châtelet (1706-1749) | p. 77 |
| Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778) | p. 80 |
| Mikhail Lomonosov (1711-1765) | p. 83 |
| James Hutton (1726-1797) | p. 86 |
| James Watt (1736-1819) | p. 89 |
| Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794) | p. 92 |
| Edward Jenner (1749-1823) | p. 97 |
| John Dalton (1766-1844) | p. 99 |
| William Smith (1769-1839) | p. 103 |
| Michael Faraday (1791-1867) | p. 106 |
| Charles Darwin (1809-1882) | p. 110 |
| Ada Lovelace (1815-1852) | p. 119 |
| Ignaz Semmelweis (1818-1865) | p. 122 |
| Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) | p. 125 |
| Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) | p. 129 |
| Bernhard Riemann (1826-1866) | p. 135 |
| James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879) | p. 138 |
| Marie Curie (1867-1934) | p. 143 |
| Lise Meitner (1878-1968) | p. 148 |
| Albert Einstein (1879-1955) | p. 152 |
| Alfred Wegener (1880-1930) | p. 163 |
| Erwin Schrödinger (1887-1961) | p. 166 |
| Edwin Hubble (1889-1953) | p. 170 |
| Howard Florey (1898-1968) | p. 173 |
| Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (1900-1979) | p. 176 |
| Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976) | p. 179 |
| Rachel Carson (1907-1964) | p. 184 |
| Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1910-1995) | p. 187 |
| Alan Turing (1912-1954) | p. 190 |
| Jonas Salk (1914-1995) | p. 194 |
| James Lovelock (b. 1919) | p. 198 |
| Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958) | p. 201 |
| Stephen Hawking (b. 1942) | p. 204 |
| Jocelyn Bell Burnell (b. 1943) | p. 211 |
| James Hansen (b. 1941) | p. 214 |
| Index of Names | p. 218 |
| Acknowledgments / About the Author | p. 224 |
